
There, the bolting black kale,
taller than it has any right to be
and not the twitter troll who asked
if you were on your period.
In the corner, a pile of dead
zucchini leaves, spotted with rot
and not the neighbour who yelled
at you about a parking stall.
Lining the sidewalk, invasive
creeping charlie and not
your mother complimenting
your ex-husband’s new wife.
Jen Sookfong Lee, "COMMUNITY GARDEN" from The Shadow List : Poems. Copyright © 2021 by Jen Sookfong Lee. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
Source: The Shadow List : Poems (Buckrider books, Wolsak and Wynn Publishers, 2021)